Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 603b · 603b
Bagoas
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Myrtilus — Ἰλίῳ Θυσίας Βαγώου τοῦ εὐνούχου οὕτως αὐτόν φησιν ἡττᾶσθαι ὡς ἐν ὄψει θεάτρου ὅλου καταφιλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀνακλάσαντα, καὶ τῶν θεατῶν ἐπιφωνησάντων μετὰ κρότου οὐκ ἀπειθήσας πάλιν ἀνακλάσας ἐφίλησεν. Καρύστιος δ’ ἐν Ἱστορικοῖς Ὑπομνήμασι ‘
Carystius, quoted by Myrtilus — Χάρωνι, φησί, τῷ Χαλκιδεῖ παῖς καλὸς ἦν καὶ εἶχεν εὖ πρὸς αὐτόν. ὡς δ’ Ἀλέξανδρος παρὰ Κρατερῷ αὐτὸν ἐπῄνεσεν γενομένου πότου, ὁ Χάρων ἐκέλευσε τὸν παῖδα καταφιλῆσαι τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον· καὶ ὃς ‘
Alexander — μηδαμῶς, εἶπεν, οὐ
…Sacrifice at Ilium, says that he was so overcome by Bagoas the eunuch that, in full view of the whole theatre, he bent him back and kissed him; and when the audience shouted for more and clapped, he did not refuse, but bent him back again and kissed him. Carystius in his Historical Notes says: “Charon of Chalcis had a beautiful boy who was close to him. When Alexander praised the boy at a drinking party at Craterus' house, Charon told the boy to kiss Alexander. And Alexander said: ‘Not at all, for it will not…
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The setting
Bagoas was a Persian eunuch, a favourite first of Darius III and then of Alexander. Carystius of Pergamum collected anecdotes in the 2nd century BC; Craterus was one of Alexander's generals.
A note on this passage
Plutarch tells the same story of Bagoas and sets it after a dancing contest in Carmania, where Bagoas won the prize and the Macedonians shouted for the king to kiss him (<i>Alexander</i> 67). In both versions the crowd asks and Alexander obliges.<br><br>Charon's offer goes the other way. The boy is his, and Alexander will not take him.
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